Telangana: Judiciary comes to a grinding halt as lawyers demand division of AP High Court

Hyderabad: Pledging solidarity with the agitating judges in Telangana, around 8,000 employees working in various courts and other judicial departments across the state went on an indefinite strike on Friday, paralysing the functioning of courts.

The employees are seeking withdrawal of the list of provisional allocation of judicial officers between AP and Telangana and High Court bifurcation, among other demands.

All India Judicial Employees Association General Secretary B Lakshma Reddy said the employees in all the 10 districts held demonstrations.

Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao. AFP

"We demand immediate roll back of the provisional allocation list of judges between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. We also demand that the High Court should be bifurcated. The strike will go on until our demands are met," Reddy told PTI.

Reddy and eight other principal members of the association were placed under suspension by the High Court on Thursday for allegedly violating the code of conduct.

The High Court had also suspended 11 judicial officers earlier on disciplinary grounds during the past four days.

Around 200 judges from Telangana are on a mass leave in protest against suspension of the 11 judicial officers amid the ongoing stir over the provisional allocation of judicial officers from Andhra Pradesh to Telangana courts.

Reddy said their demands include revoking the suspension orders on the 11 judges and filling up vacant posts in various courts.

Meanwhile, the Telangana legal fraternity held a 'maha dharna' at Indira park on Friday, seeking immediate bifurcation
of the existing High Court, recall of provisional list of allocation pertaining to judicial officers and revocation of the suspensions.